


Tea and (micro)chips

by Louiseflower117



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Fluff and cuddles, Not Canon Compliant, Pining Reid, Slow Burn, Unaware Reid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-08-30 06:32:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8522233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louiseflower117/pseuds/Louiseflower117
Summary: A new case appears on the team's desk, with none of the normal thrill and action but much of the usual feelings, both good and bad.





	1. New Face, New Case

**Author's Note:**

> This is a random story that I felt inspired to write for no real reason, not sure how far I'll take it but hope you can enjoy it! It's unbeta'd and a bit of a mess but that's normal for me.

“Team, I’d like to introduce someone who will be helping us on this case.” Hotchner said, sitting down at the briefing table as a new face walked into the room. A little taller than average, though that was probably to do with the two inch heels on her boots. Skinny black jeans, a white fitted blouse with rolled up sleeves and a black, low scooped neckline waistcoat. Dark blonde hair that was dipped dyed at shoulder height to dark, deep purple all dragged up into a messy ponytail.

“Everyone, this is Jamie Stanford, she’s an expert in trafficking and international cases, on loan to us from England.”

Jamie swung her leather messenger bag onto the spare chair, pulling out a collection of files and almost throwing them down on the table. Reid exchanged a glance with Morgan, practically hearing him say ‘angry, must be personal’ before looking back to her and picking up a file.

“Thanks Hotchner, just glad you lot took the advice and called me in.”

Reid opened the file, starting to flick through the images and reports, all fairly graphic and mostly of children and teenagers. All different races, male and female, and all ages under 18. Completely different disposal sites, locations scattered all across the US and a few either side of either border, no more than two or three with the same cause of death.

“Just what are we looking at? None of these seemed linked at all.” Morgan pointed out.   
“On the surface, no. But everyone of these victims are from the last three months, and every single one of them has the same microchip implant in the back of their necks. Most of them were abducted after being stalked for at least two months on the internet before they were abducted. This is an escalation of an organisation that has already spread across most of the EU. They’ve only started here within the last five months at least, but it’s widespread and spreading.”

Silence, as the team digested this information, something in JJ’s expression flickered as she looked at a particular image of a girl, no more than a toddler, laying face up in a ditch of muddy rain water.

“How have we not heard about this before?” she asked, voice softer than normal.   
“We’ve done a good job keeping it quiet, people knowing would only cause panic and send the organisation even deeper underground. So this isn't something you should make general knowledge.”

Jamie shuffled a few sheets of paper around as everyone flicked through the files, taking the full extent in.

“These just the American victims?”

“Yes, all the ones taken from the US and recovered are shown here. I have a long list of missing children who are also potential victims but with no real victimology it's not possible to know until-”

“-until it's too late.” Rossi finished off.

“So, why are we here? I mean clearly we aren't jetting off anywhere just yet, but it doesn't look like we can be of any help.” JJ pointed out, getting a noise of agreement from Morgan.

“You're here because of this-” Jamie said, taking a single sheet of paper from her file and putting it out on the desk for all to see. It was a photocopy of a printed letter.

_ “We know you're looking for us here as well, and you're not going to have any better luck tracking us down in the New world than you did in the Old. Nice seeing you again J. _ ” Spencer read out for the group to hear.

“This was put through the letter box of the flat I was renting. I received many others while I was working in various locations in Europe. However, this one came attached to a map, with half a dozen locations marked on it. Each mark was the location of a deceased victim found in Florida.”   
“Florida? But all these ones were from Texas and-”   
“The files aren't duplicates of each other, and that's not even half. There's nearly 150 victims so far.”

* * *

 

”Hey Jamie, is it possible to get pictures of all the other letters sent to you?”

Jamie plugged a USB stick into her laptop as she spoke. “I'll get them printed off for you now, but there's nearly 20 letters and we've gone over them so many times.”

“Well, maybe fresh eyes will do the trick.”

Jamie made an unconvinced noise, standing up to go over to the kitchen area, rummaging through the cupboards until she found a box of tea bags, flicking the kettle on and leaning her hip against the counter to wait for it to boil.

“So, what makes you the leading authority on this gang then?” Morgan asked as he approached, refilling his coffee from the pot. Jamie didn't even jump, barely even glancing across at him.   
“Personal connection to the case, though I'm sure that  _ special agent _ Derek Morgan already figured that out.”   
“He did, now how about giving him a little more to work with.”   
“You have all the information on this case at your disposal, I'm sure if it's that important to you, you'll figure it out. And no, I'm not compromised by having a personal connection, not like it would serve anyone to have me kicked off the case.”

Jamie took her tea, letting the steam billow as she went to the printer and picked up the letters for Spencer, dropping them a little unceremoniously on his desk before going back to her own: really it was Prentis’ old desk, but Jamie wasn't even aware. She just sat back down and started typing away on her laptop, taking the occasional sip of tea as she worked.

* * *

 

“Hey, brought you a fresh cup of tea.” Spencer said softly, placing a full mug down next to Jamie’s empty one just as she was considering making herself her ninth cup of tea so far that day.

“Oh, thank you Doctor Reid, I was just… going to make myself one…” Jamie mumbled, giving him a smile of thanks as she took the mug to cradle it in her hands.

“You drink one every 49 minutes, discluding the lemonade you had with lunch.”   
“Have you been watching me and timing how long I take between trips to the kitchen?”   
“Only after JJ mentioned that you’d already had four cups in less than four hours and that ‘only the British could drink that much tea’.”

Jamie gave a little chuckle, before taking a sip from the mug in her hands.

“And you also watched me make the tea to know how I take it?”   
“No, Morgan did that.”   
“Right… you lot all have no concept of personal boundaries do you?”

Spencer looked a little confused at the comment, before opening his mouth to defend himself.

“No, it’s alright, I should have expected it really, from a team of profilers and all. Just didn’t think that you’d do something so simple and nice with it.”   
“We’re not all bad,    
“No, you’re not.”

“So the marked map was clearly an escalation, a taunt at Jamie for not having caught them yet, but the letters don’t reflect any sort of escalation, and considering there’s 17 of them you’d expect them to get more personal, more intimate almost if they were tracking Jamie the same way they were tracking all their victims, but it doesn’t read like that at all. In fact, it starts personal and very intimate, like they’ve known Jamie for a long time, before becoming less and less so, reverting almost to the business like letter she received here. But they were definitely all written by the same person, probably male.” Spencer said, looking round to the rest of the team, who were still processing Spencer’s fast, fact filled speech.

“So, some dude who knew Jamie and with all this time apart has grown distant, like an ex-lover who you still have to walk past in the office everyday.” Morgan summarised, with a nod from Reid.

“But, Jamie would have told us if that was the case, wouldn’t she?” JJ asked.   
“She did say she was personally connected to the case, and that the answer to how was somewhere in all the case files. Maybe this is how.” Morgan offered.   
“You know, it might not be an ex-lover, maybe a family member, close friend.” Reid countered.   
“Or maybe, someone could just ask me, rather than wasting time coming up with theories.” Jamie snapped, from where she was standing in the conference room door.

“I told you it wasn’t worth going through the letters Doctor Reid, and I told you it wasn’t something relevant to the case Agent Morgan.”   
“Well, maybe you’d like to enlighten us, so we can carry on with something that you don’t deem a waste of time.” Rossi snapped.

“You were both right: ex-lover, and family member.”


	2. Unexpected Letters

“Wow wow wow, Stanford, you can not just walk away from what you just told us!”   
“I think you'll find that I can, and I did. Clearly you didn't get the hint that me walking away was a sign I don't want to discuss it further.” Jamie snapped, glaring up at Morgan from where he had cornered her in the kitchen.

As soon as she had told them just how she was personally involved in the case, she'd left the conference room to the kitchen, and Morgan has elected himself to dig a little deeper in an attempt to try and uncover the full story.

”How are we meant to be able to trust you with any information if we know you're related to members of this organisation.”   
“Because I was never a member myself, I never had any involvement with running it or anything like that. Because I can tell you right now I have dedicated my life to trying to prevent what happened to me happening to anyone else!”

Jamie froze as they both realised just what she'd shouted across the entire bullpen, ensuring that everyone present heard. Dropping her face to the floor, she took a single long, shaky breath before pushing past Morgan and out of the room. This time, Morgan didn't follow her.

* * *

 

Reid discovered Jamie in a teashop two streets away from the FBI building, inhaling the scented steam from the tea cup, hidden away in the back corner out of direct line of sight. Normally, they shop would have been closed up an hour before, but it was clear they were staying open a little longer just for her, and by the look of the huge collection of tea cups in front of her, she was attempting to drown herself in tea, or induce caffeine toxicity.

Out on the little table in front of her was a colouring book comprised of intricate patterns and a pack of pencils, with which she was slowly adding colour to the page in front of her. Cautiously, Reid sat down opposite her at the table, observing the precise pencil work, shading and blending taking place on the page. Jamie refused to acknowledge him, only looking up when the one lonely waitress wandered over.

“Miss, it’s nearly midnight.”   
“Oh, thank you. Sorry for keeping you so late,”

Jamie gathered her things back into her bag, swinging it over her shoulder and putting down more than enough money to compensate for the trouble she’d caused them. Once she and Reid were outside in the cold night air, she finally turned to him.

“I guess you’ve got questions then.”   
“Yes, but they’re not really important. I was more worried that you would get lost or something would happen to you.”   
“I am quite capable of looking after myself thank you very much.”   
“I-I didn’t mean to imply that you can’t, I just wanted to be sure. Even with the presence of the FBI headquarters the crime rate is still high in this area and-”   
“Thanks Reid, I appreciated the gesture, and you not interrogating me.”

Jamie offered him a smile, before turning to walk down the pavement, wrapping her arms around herself tight.

“Hey, you not going to get a taxi?”   
“Oh, no. I need to get my stuff from the FBI storage cupboard and then find a motel to stay in.”   
“You don’t already have a place to stay?”   
“I- I forgot to book anywhere…”

She looked down guiltily at the slabs under her feet, before shifting the strap of her bag on her shoulder and setting off back towards the FBI building. Spencer followed after her, catching up to walk alongside her.

“Worried that something will happen to me?”

Spencer shook his head, but looked around the streets with mild suspicion anyway. There was plenty of traffic on the road, but very little on the path, and what other people they passed ignored them completely with a wide enough berth. As they stopped to cross the road, Spencer noticed Jamie shift closer to him, away from a stranger standing on her other side.

Jamie visibly relaxed once they were back inside the warmth of the headquarters, flashing her ID card and going straight to the cupboard. Two minutes later, she was wheeling her suitcase out onto the street and buttoning up her coat.

“Got any good recommendations of hotels or motels within walking distance?”   
“No, but you could a get a cab and ask the driver?”

Even as Jamie looked like she was considering the idea, Morgan walked up to them.

“Hey, you know you could talk in the warm of the lobby rather than just outside it in the cold?”   
“You been listening in on our conversation?”   
“Well yes Stanford I have, and if you don’t have somewhere booked, why don’t you just crash at my place? I’ve got a spare room.” Derek offered.

“I don’t want to impose or anything, I’m more than happy to find a hotel, it’s probably best I don’t lead them to anyone’s house.”   
“Come on, I’m sure one night won’t hurt.”

Jamie huffed slightly, adjusting the position of the strap across her shoulder. “Fine then, but I warn you now that I’m a bitch in the mornings.”

* * *

 

“Make yourself at home.” Derek offered, as he swung open the front door for her and closed it behind them both, shrugging off his coat and then taking Jamie’s from her as well to hang up.

“Thanks, but right now all I want to do is curl up and sleep.”   
“Well then follow me, I’ll show you up to the spare room.”

It wasn’t much, and it wasn’t huge, but it was a warm bed and a place she could put her stuff down for the night, which she gladly did, leaving it all piled up in the corner so she could drag the curtains closed. By the time Morgan was finished busying about downstairs and walked past the half-open bedroom door, Jamie was face down in the pillow, for all intents and purposes dead to the world, dragging a smile across Derek’s mouth before he pulled the door closed all the way.

* * *

 

“Stanford... Stanford. Stanford! … … JAMIE!”

WIth a rather inelegant snuffling noise and a slight moment of scrambling, she was sitting up in bed, looking up at where Morgan was standing in the doorway: clearly just out of the shower and with more than a little worry on his face.

“Sorry… I’m a heavy sleeper… must of forgot to set the bloody alarm.”   
“Oh no, you slept right through that. Twice.

Sheepishly picking up her phone from the bedside table, she saw that indeed, there were two notifications of missed alarms.

“How do you ever wake up on time for anything?”   
“Dumb luck? Any way, there enough hot water left for me?”   
“Should be.”   
“Thanks…”

Derek was downstairs in the kitchen half an hour later when Jamie wandered in, plaiting her wet hair back out of the way in a surprisingly elegant dutch braid for the fact the shower didn’t seem to have done anything in the way of waking her.

“You drink coffee?”   
“This time of morning, god yes.”

After adding only the tiniest splash of milk but three heaped teaspoons of sugar, it took all of two minutes for Jamie to have emptied the mug again, and as she clinked it empty back down onto the counter, there was a palpable difference in her. Posture straightening, confidence almost radiating off of her.

“Thank you for letting me stay the night, you didn’t have to-”   
“Don’t give me any of that, at least I can make sure that you get to work on time on time if you stay here.”   
“You really don’t have to put up with me, I’ll find a hotel tonight-”

They were interrupted by the sound of a knock at the door, and Morgan brushed past her to go answer it, but as he got closer, he saw a letter get pushed through the flap. Picking it up, he saw it was a plain envelope, with no obvious markings on it and heavy with it’s contents, but a single name written on the front in handwriting that was almost calligraphy. Jamie.

“Hey!” Ripping open the door, Derek saw that the street was completely empty: nothing out of place, no one out on the pavement, nothing.

“Who was it?”   
“No one.. But they left this…”

Even as he handed over the letter, he could see the panic setting in on her face. She took it gingerly by the corner, before walking out to the kitchen, putting it down on the counter before using her phone to take pictures of both sides before actually opening it. A folded sheet of paper, and a stack of photographs. Photographs of her and the team: some outside the FBI building, some of her and Spencer in and outside the teashop, her getting into Morgan’s car, JJ hugging her husband in their doorway, Hotchner walking with Jack home from school.

“Escalation.” Was all Derek could mumble, as he watched Jamie unfold the letter and her face drain of what little colour it had left.

* * *

 

_ "Seems this time you’ve got the best the FBI has to offer to try and help you; how sweet. Just know that they are almost as easy to track as you were. Don’t get to cozy with him, cheating will only make it worse for you, and we both know that you don't want that.” _

Jamie was sat down, huddled in on herself as Spencer read the letter out, JJ didn’t look too much better and Hotch has left to make a call to Jack’s school.

“It’s a complete shift in language.”   
“Yeah but it’s backwards. It’s back to the much more intimate style it used to be, but more threatening, rather than the teasing and taunting it was before.”   
“I’m sorry that I’ve put you all in danger.”

All eyes turned to Jamie, but her eyes were firmly fixed to the table in front of her, as she attempted to take a steadying breath.

“You, your loved ones… I didn’t mean for any of that to happen, and I know that it’s probably all part and parcel of you job… but JJ, Hotchner… Jack, Henry... “   
“We know, and now they’ve made this personal against us all.” Hotch responded.   
“So, tell us Jamie, just who is this guy who keeps writing these letters?” Rossi prompted.

“He’s my half-brother.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, this chapter is well overdue, but it's still kinda short. It's also very dark, and mentions some sensitive issues, so just letting you know. Its unlikely that things will get any less dark in the next few chapters either.

“He and I share the same biological father I mean, I wouldn’t call him my brother by any other definition, he didn’t act much like a brother should.” Jamie clarified a moment later, looking more than a little nervous at the array of expressions looking back at her. JJ’s eyes had blown wide in shock. Rossi seemed to be somewhere between disgusted and angry. Hotch looked like he was considering throwing her into an interrogation cell like she was a potential suspect. Morgan looked utterly done and wondering if he could unhear what Jamie had said and its implications. Spencer was completely blank, blinking rapidly before snapping out of it to be the first one to look back at her.

“So ah… you’re more dedicated to stopping them than anyone…”

“Yes… I know I shouldn't be on the case but… I  _ need _ to be on the case. I more than know what they're capable of, I already know how their minds work to some extent, and I'd be dragged in as a witness every other time a new development surfaced, so it's convenient for everyone…” Jamie answered, pulling herself up to stand at her full height, looking round at Hotch, who seemed to still be considering interrogating her as a suspect.

“How come none of that is written in any of these reports?” he asked coldly.   
“It’s the only report you haven’t seen and don’t have access to. ” Jamie answered.   
“You can’t expect us be able to solve this is we don't have all the facts at our disposal. We need that report.”

Jamie looked down at the floor for a second, just her eyes, before she took a steadying breath and met Hotch’s almost glare.

“I shredded that report. It doesn’t exist anymore. It didn’t fit with any pattern or show any similarities to any thing else they did. It wouldn’t have helped you.”   
“You know that means we have to consider you a suspect, at the very least detain you for obstruction of justice.”   
“Hotch! You can’t be serious, she’s a victim! We don’t arrest victims!” Morgan snapped.

“I understand my right to remain silent, and that anything I say can and will be held against me in a court of law.” Jamie said, taking her badge and handgun off and leaving it on the table. “I wave my right to legal council and whatever else you Americans offer.”

“I’ll take her, while you lot come to your senses.” Morgan huffed, following Jamie out of the briefing room in silence.

“Hotch, you can’t seriously be doing this? Jamie is the one that brought this case to us, why would she do that if she was trying to cover up for them?” JJ asked.   
“The same reason serial killers write to the media and leave letters at crime scenes: to taunt us.” Rossi answered.   
“Yeah, but to hand us nearly every piece of information we could ever want? That’s more than just a taunt, you’d have to be certain you couldn’t be caught.” JJ countered.   
“Hence why it's so suspicious that she’s been keeping quite about herself being a victim, and not having any of the files on her own case left.”

* * *

Jamie walked in complete silence, seating herself down on one side of the interrogation table, clearly forcing herself to stay calm.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Morgan asked.   
“Are you asking as my colleague or the good-cop of this interrogation?” Jamie asked back, one side of her mouth pulling into the briefest of smiles.   
“Jamie, seriously, I know you shouldn’t have to go through this, you’ve-”   
“Already been through enough? Been too traumatised to cope with this?”   
“I never said any of that Jamie, you know I didn’t.”   
“But I’m a  _ victim _ now right? In your eyes at least. I am not a victim in the sense you're using that word. The victims here are the ones that end up microchipped like dogs and dead in ditches. If Hotchner needs to waste time interrogating me like this, because he thinks that I’ve held back anything relevant to the case, then so be it. Jamie snapped, glaring at Morgan until he seemed to admit defeat, raising his hands in mock surrender before leaving.

The rest of the team was already waiting outside the interrogation room, and Hotchner didn’t even wait to see if Morgan had something to say before going in.

“When did you become aware of what your father was doing?”   
“I was never not aware.”   
“How so?”   
“My mother was one of his victims, an early one by the name of Joyce Stanford. File number 42JP, found on April 9th in England, died of internal trauma from complications of giving birth 27 years ago.”   
“So that’s why the man who’s been writing you these letters is only your half brother?”   
“No. He’s my half-brother because my father was married to his mother, where as my mother was one of the victims he took a liking to after he killed his wife. Matilda Smith, found on July 11th in England, died of gunshot wound to the back of the head 28 years ago.”   
“And with all this information, they still haven’t caught him? The man who you say is responsible for all these deaths and have little problem calling father?”   
“He’s not the ringleader, he’s just the UK base leader. His file number is 79KL, and they could never pin anything on him, no matter how much they tried. Then he disappeared off the radar completely, never to be seen or heard from again. I call him father because he was, once, a decent one, who would make sure me and my brother were well looked after, always showed us nothing but kindness.”   
“But you knew what he did?”   
“Yes, I knew what he did, what he’s probably still doing, and when I was old enough to realise how wrong it was, he pulled me out of school and kept me prisoner inside our house. He never hurt me, he just didn’t let me leave: he may be a monster, but he was never a monster towards me directly. My half-brother was the real monster, and he is the one who writes me letters, and the one who I will be happy to see behind bars for what he’s done.”

Hotch sat back slightly, as Jamie ground her teeth and stared down at the table, something hard and unfeeling in her eyes, like she was refusing to feel whatever was bubbling up to the surface.

“Is  _ that _ enough to prove to you that I’m not on their side now, Agent Hotchner? Or do you need me to recount just how much of a monster my half-brother was? How many times I tried to escape? How it took me swallowing a cocktail of medication and waking up in a hospital bed to finally get out of there? How when I started out as the head of this case, I was jerked around by every law enforcement agency of every country I visited because I was the daughter of one of the main men? How most see me as more of a victim than the people who are being trafficked and sold off to killers? Do you see why I omit those certain truths to try and keep people focused on what's really important here?”


End file.
